So today my wife went back to Crevier, met the Customer Service Manager, who took her to meet the same Service Advisor. The CS Manager asks straight out, can the keys be damaged by a defective general module? The Service Advisor says yes, at which time the CS Manager tells my wife that no matter what, they'll fix the problem, and she left with a loaner. 2 hours later they call her up, problem fixed - remotes now work. The problem - uh - take this down fellow X5ers if you didn't know this already - they needed both keys to successfully reprogram the remotes. Is that the real story? Who knows - but keep it in mind next time your remote cuts out and you take it to the dealer.

So far, the A/C seems to work. The rear window works again. Expensive fixes but at least they do the trick. Too bad it's offset by the fact that the mechanic/technician/advisor/whatever didn't know you needed both keys to reprogram the remote, and felt the need to try to shrug it off. The unnecessary aggravation surely makes the effort to find a good indy seem worthwhile. I'm open to suggestions - Orange County and Riverside California, anyone?